


A Quiet Sort Of Magic

by FiresFromOurHearts



Series: Small Harry Potter Things [37]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Female Friendship, Friendship/Love, Gen, Healing, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Recovery, Trauma, Unicorns, i guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-11
Updated: 2020-06-11
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:21:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24660718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FiresFromOurHearts/pseuds/FiresFromOurHearts
Summary: Returning to Hogwarts is strange. Hogwarts is meant to be safe, Ginny knows this, so why doesn't she feel that way?Featuring: Luna being herself and a surprise appearance of a unicorn.
Relationships: Luna Lovegood & Ginny Weasley
Series: Small Harry Potter Things [37]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/719196
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	A Quiet Sort Of Magic

Coming back to Hogwarts was strange. Despite the disastrous ending of her first year, Ginny had thought it’d ended on a rather high note. The festivities and lack of amnesia had left her feeling better than she had most of the year. There had been that strange feeling sitting in the back of her head, that occasionally left her feeling like she was floating away from her body, but that had been it. She’d thought that second year would be much the same. Hogwarts was safe now, after all.

Except, so far, second year hadn’t proven to be good at all. A few months in and Ginny was already struggling with homework. She hadn’t paid anywhere near enough attention in first year ~~and she’d had Tom’s help~~ , and she was paying for it now. It didn’t help that paying attention in class or keeping focussed completing various scrolls of parchment was difficult. Nowhere quite felt safe. It was like the castle walls were closing in on her, contorting into pipes and then she would hear the steady _drip drip drip_ of water. It was like a never-ending nightmare.

Escaping the Chamber should’ve been the end of it. But it hadn’t been. The Chamber haunted her, a ghost that she couldn’t see but was still there. It made her paranoid, left her wide-eyed and shaking. It crept into her nightmares, left her sweating and tired, snapping at classmates and housemates.

Her brothers tried, but they didn’t baby her—and she wouldn’t accept it if they tried to anyway. It was far easier to rage and bluster her way through anything than admit she was struggling. _Harry_ didn’t seem to be struggling and he’d had to face down the Basilisk ~~and Tom~~ whilst she simply lay unconscious like some damsel in distress.

It left Ginny lonely, isolated by her own actions. People had formed friendships in first year and, even then, Ginny had had no one. ~~If you’re isolated, you’re easier to control.~~ She was miserable in a way she couldn’t quite articulate. Hogwarts was meant to be safe, meant to be a refuge. She’d been told stories of how fantastical Hogwarts was, and she couldn’t find it within herself to agree. Hogwarts had taken her, left her scarred, and then spat her out like she wasn’t worth its time.

The world didn’t stop because you were angry or scared though, Ginny knew that. If you were struggling, you just had to keep struggling. She didn’t have the option to simply give up, and she refused to even consider the thought. That felt too much like losing, ~~like Tom had won~~. So she stayed up late, spent hours doing homework when it shouldn’t take so long. She worked in the Common Room, in class rooms abandoned and populated, in the library where it was quite or amongst groups of other second years.

She figured that it was easier to relax when there were other people around—but not too many people. Seeing others meant that she wasn’t in the Chamber, but if there were too many people around and talking, even in hushed voices, something angry and frustrated rose within her and left her biting her tongue until it bled.

In the end, Ginny often found herself working awkwardly near others who were ostracized by their own classmates, for one reason or another. They didn’t talk, but it felt nice. Maybe not good and they weren’t friends, but maybe they would be in time.

What helped the most was being out of the castle though. Walks in the misty mornings when most of the castle was still waking up? Ginny adored it. The world seemed to be caught still in a moment, frozen picture perfect just for her. It was quiet and far, far from the memories of the past year, ~~of the Chamber and the diary and Tom~~.

And it’s on one of those moments that things change. The morning’s cool, but not wet, and Ginny’s traversing her usual path, circling near the shore of the Great Lake when she sees someone standing in the lake with their pants rolled up to their knees.

Heart pounding, hands curled into fists so that they don’t tremble, Ginny marches over towards where the girl—and it’s Luna, because of course it is—is getting deeper and deeper into the lake.

“Hey!” She yells, voice loud and almost echoing in the stillness of the morning. “You shouldn’t do that!” And she’s buzzing with adrenaline, jittery, because there are stories of a monster that lurks beneath the water’s surface and Ginny doesn’t want to see anyone hurt.

~~She almost died due to the monster beneath the castle in the Chamber. She refuses to see anyone else go the same way.~~

Luna stops walking, turning around to see her. The Ravenclaw smiles at her, loose and airy, and Ginny bites back the next shout that rests on her tongue. “Hey Ginny,” she answers, eyes wide ~~not with fear~~. “Did you come out here to look for dapperblimps too?”

“No,” Ginny says, skirting the lapping water at the edge of the shore. “Must you be out there?”

Tilting her head, Luna appears to consider the question in detail. “No,” she says at last. “I don’t believe I must be. But dapperblimps are said to love water and early mornings, and this morning seems the perfect day to go wading.”

“It’s freezing,” Ginny answers, scrunching up her nose at the very idea of wading. “Will you come back? You’ll catch a cold being out there.”

Luna comes back, although slowly and frequently stopping to twist and look in some direction as if she had seen something. When she finally leaves the water, she appears barefoot and without any shoes. Ginny refrains from commenting on it. “Do you enjoy the outdoors?” Luna asks, but before Ginny can answer, she keeps talking, “I think the wrackspurts often enjoy the indoors and don’t like coming out. It’s must better to think outside, don’t you agree?”

While she may not have any idea of what wrackspurts are, Ginny nods in agreement. It is better to think outside, she knows that much. “A lot of my friends live out here,” Luna says as she walks off. And, well, Ginny doesn’t have much she has to be doing and she doesn’t quite feel like it’s safe to leave Luna to her own devices. ~~She doesn’t want to turn away and only learn later she could’ve done something to save her.~~

They end up heading towards the Forbidden Forest and Luna stops right at its border. “That’s the Forbidden Forest,” Ginny says, stressing _forbidden_ as if that’ll mean Luna will understand that she isn’t meant to go in.

“Yes,” Luna agrees, making Ginny hopeful that Luna doesn’t actually have plans to enter the forest. “That the forest’s name.” Her hopes go crashing like a bludger through a wooden fence. “But I do believe my friends are going to come visit me today, rather than me visit them.”

Ginny frowns at that, but Luna doesn’t seem to care. Instead, she drops to the floor, uncaring for the wet ground. Although—Ginny finds as she crouches down—the ground hear appears to actually be dry. She sits down next to Luna. One minute stretches into two, and Ginny finds herself relaxing as sunlight drifts down to warm her bones.

Eventually, ten minutes have passed and only then does Luna shift. “Here they come!” She says, swiftly climbing to her feet.

Ginny takes the proffered hand without a thought. “What is it?” She asks, but receives no answer. The question does receive an answer when a unicorn steps out of the forest, drifting close to Luna.

Immediately, Ginny finds herself in wordless awe. She’s never seen a unicorn up close, and the animal is graceful and gentle. It’s spectacularly white, almost blinding. It nuzzles Luna’s hand and the Ravenclaw gives it a piece of carrot.

“Here you go,” Luna says, giving Ginny the other half of the carrot.

Ginny swallows, glancing to the unicorn and then to Luna who mimes what to do. The unicorn approaches slowly, nickering lowly. She places the piece of carrot on her flat hand, and watches as the unicorn takes the piece, crunching it between teeth.

“They’re beautiful,” Ginny says, stroking the unicorn’s neck.

Luna smiles. “He is,” she agrees. “Sometimes I see his herd in the forest, but he doesn’t often bring them to meet me.”

“How did you meet him?”

“Sometimes the outdoors is better than the indoors,” she says. “And sometimes people like to be nasty because they feel powerful. But animals don’t do that. They have no reason to be mean unless someone hurts them and sometimes they’re quieter too.”

That sounds like half an answer to Ginny, but she can’t really complain. Luna hasn’t asked why she’s outside when most people are asleep after all. It only makes sense that she’d give the same courtesy to the Ravenclaw.

“Could I come with you sometime?” Ginny asks, voice tentative and soft, ~~and she hates that she’s fearful here too~~. “To meet him and, perhaps, your other friends?”

Luna beams and it’s like the sun has come out from behind the clouds. “Of course!” She says. “He’s happy to see you and I’m sure everyone else will be happy to meet you too. You’re a kind person, Ginny.”

She’s never been called kind before. Brave, yes, but not kind. Her brothers wouldn’t call her gentle, not with all the fighting they get into. And her mother knows better than to try and call her kind. But coming from Luna it doesn’t sound like something Ginny might take as an insult. Luna doesn’t really know her, but she seems to mean it when she calls Ginny ‘kind’.

“You’re a good person,” Ginny replies, because no one would call her kind and no one really calls her nice. But Luna’s often left alone, like Ginny. They’ve sat near each other and worked through their homework, even if it wasn’t for the same class. And Luna doesn’t ask questions and has never wondered about the Chamber of Secrets and the basilisk that lived there. Luna’s only offered quiet comfort this morning and prevented Ginny from feeling anxious about the lake and the forest and the monsters they contain.

Swallowing, Ginny wonders if this might be someone she can talk to. It feels like this could be peaceful in time. Maybe Ginny will find safety in Hogwarts, in the end.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this for a prompt regarding nature, and it was actually quiet fun thinking about how Ginny might react returning to Hogwarts after her first year, because how do you go about recovering from that? She was so excited to see Hogwarts and be there as well, and it was ruined for her. We see this brave, courageous queen in future books, but how does she get to that point? I didn't really explore that, but I did kind of reference of where she might end up. I was mainly seeing a girl who was trying to be brave while still being scared and not wanting to admit that fact. I also painted an idea of how Luna and Ginny's friendship might of begun. Luna is a very difficult character to write, so I hope I managed here! Even if I didn't, I'm not toooooo unhappy with how it all worked out. I'm like... content, I think. 
> 
> Hope you're all doing well. Stay safe! If you ever need to talk, you know where to find me (either here or on [tumblr](https://silent-silver-slip.tumblr.com/), but now on Discord as well)


End file.
